Rajbir murder was planned: Police

Gurgaon police said Bhardwaj had planned to kill the Delhi ACP three days before March 24, reports SK Ahuja.

Vijay Bhardwaj murdered Rajbir Singh after meticulous planning, Gurgaon Police said on Sunday, pushing aside its own claims earlier that the senior police officer was shot dead at the spur of the moment.

And this was only one of the many twists and turns the Gurgaon Police gave to the case just days ahead of the CBI taking over the investigations.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has already announced his government’s decision to hand over the case to the central probe agency.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mohinder Lal said Bhardwaj had planned to kill the Delhi ACP and encounter specialist three days before March 24 — on the night of which Rajbir’s body was found. The property dealer had asked Rajbir for a revolver saying that he needed it for his own safety, as he was to collect a huge amount of money from someone in Sirsa. Bhardwaj actually never went to Sirsa nor was to get money from anyone, Lal said.

This twist contradicted the claims of the police four days ago when senior officers said that Bhardwaj killed Rajbir when he saw him making frantic calls to someone to fix him for not keeping his promise of paying back the money that he owed him.

Some more twists in the tale so far. On March 25, Commissioner Lal had said that Bhardwaj shot thrice at Rajbir — two bullets hit him. A day later, Joint Police Commissioner Manjit Singh Ahalawat said at a press conference that Bhardwaj had fired only two shots.

Ahalawat also said that Bhardwaj owed Rajbir Rs 95 lakh, and not Rs 60 lakh as his force had earlier claimed.

On Sunday, the police also said that the gun used in the crime was the service revolver of a senior Haryana Police officer who lost it during a raid in July last year. The earlier claim was that the revolver belonged to Rajbir.

Another important contradiction: the autopsy report clearly said that the gunshots were fired at the ACP from the front while the Gurgaon police claimed that Bhardwaj opened fire from behind.